AFC Champions League 2019

AFC Champions League 2019
Cup winners	al-Hilal (3rd title)
Beginning	5th February 2019
final	H : November 9, 2019 R : November 24, 2019
Final stadium	H: King Saud University Stadium , Riyadh D: Saitama Stadium 2002 , Saitama
Teams	32 (51 with qualifying rounds)
Games	126
Gates	354  (ø 2.81 per game)
spectator	1,796,810  (ø 14,260 per game)
Top scorer	Bafétimbi Gomis (al-Hilal)
yellow cards	414  (ø 3.29 per game)
Yellow and red cards	4  (ø 0.03 per game)
Red cards	8  (ø 0.06 per game)
← AFC Champions League 2018 AFC Champions League 2020 →
AFC Cup 2019 ↓

The AFC Champions League 2019 was the 17th season of the most important Asian competition for club teams in football under this name and the 38th overall. 51 clubs from 22 national associations of the AFC took part in the competition this season . The season began with the first qualifying round on February 5 and ended with the second leg of the final on November 24, 2019.

The Saudi Arabian club al-Hilal won the competition for the third time after 1991 and 2000 with a 1-0 victory in the first leg and a 2-0 victory in the second leg against Urawa Red Diamonds from Japan and thus qualified as a representative of the AFC for the FIFA Club World Cup 2019 in Qatar . Defending champion Kashima Antlers from Japan was already eliminated in the quarterfinals.

The top scorer was the Frenchman Bafétimbi Gomis from al-Hilal with 11 goals. He was also named the best player of the competition.

qualification

The fixtures in the three qualifying rounds were set according to the AFC four-year evaluation 2017, which was divided into the west and east regions, and the access list, with matches between teams from the same national association being excluded. The qualifying rounds were decided in one game each, with the club from the higher-ranking association each having home rights. In the event of a tie, extra time was played first and then a penalty shoot-out was applied if necessary .

The eight winners of the play-off round reached the group stage. The defeated teams from the associations, which only send one team to the Champions League, continued to play in the group stage of the AFC Cup . These included the clubs from Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Tajikistan and Vietnam.

First qualifying round

The games took place on February 5, 2019.

	Result		region
al-Wihdat	2: 3	al Kuwait SC	west
Ceres-Negros FC	1: 2	Yangon United	east
Home United	1: 3	Persija Jakarta	east

Second qualifying round

The games took place on February 12, 2019.

	Result		region
Paxtakor Tashkent	2: 1	al-Quwa al-Jawiya	west
AGMK FC	4: 2	FC Istiklol	west
Saipa Tehran	4-0	Minerva Punjab	west
Zob Ahan Isfahan	1: 0 a.d.	al Kuwait SC	west
Perak FA	1: 1 n.V. (6: 5  p.e. )	Kitchee SC	east
Bangkok United	0: 1	Hà Nội FC	east
Chiangrai United	3: 1	Yangon United	east
Newcastle United Jets	3: 1 a.d.	Persija Jakarta	east

Play-off round

The games took place on February 19, 2019.

	Result		region
al-Nasr SC	1: 2	Paxtakor Tashkent	west
al-Nasr	4-0	AGMK FC	west
al-Rayyan SC	3: 1	Saipa Tehran	west
al-Gharafa SC	2: 3	Zob Ahan Isfahan	west
Ulsan Hyundai	5: 1	Perak FA	east
Shandong Luneng Taishan	4: 1	Hà Nội FC	east
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	0: 0  n.v. (4: 3  in good condition )	Chiangrai United	east
Kashima Antlers	4: 1	Newcastle United Jets	east

Group stage

32 clubs took part in the group stage. 24 teams were directly qualified, plus 8 (four each from the western and eastern regions) who qualified via the play-off round. The group draw took place on November 22, 2018 in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur . The teams were drawn into eight groups with four participants each. The teams from the western region formed groups A to D, those from the eastern region formed groups E to H. Teams from the same national association could not be drawn into the same group.

The group winners and runners-up qualified for the round of 16, while those placed third and fourth were eliminated from the competition. If two or more teams were tied, the placement was determined by the following criteria:

1. Number of points in direct comparison
2. Goal difference in direct comparison
3. Number of goals in direct comparison
4. Number of away goals in direct comparison
5. If, after applying criteria 1 to 4, there are still several teams in the same place in the table, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied, but only to the matches between the teams in question. Should this also not lead to a definitive placement, criteria 6 to 10 will be applied.
6. Goal difference from all group matches
7. Number of goals in all group matches
8. If it is only about two teams and these two are on the field, there will be a penalty shoot-out between them .
9. Lower number of points through yellow and red cards (yellow card 1 point, yellow-red and red card 3 points, yellow card followed by a direct red card 4 points)
10. Higher rank of the football association in the AFC four-year ranking

Group A

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Zob Ahan Isfahan	6th	3	3	0	010: 500	+5	12
2.	al-Nasr	6th	3	1	2	011: 700	+4	10
3.	al-Zawraa SC	6th	2	2	2	014: 900	+5	08th
4th	al-Wasl	6th	1	0	5	004:180	−14	03

4th March 2019
al-Wasl	1-0	al-Nasr	Zabeel Stadium
Zob Ahan Isfahan	0-0	al-Zawraa SC	Foolad Shahr Stadium
March 11, 2019
al-Zawraa SC	5-0	al-Wasl	Karbala Stadium (in Kerbela )
al-Nasr	2: 3	Zob Ahan Isfahan	al-Maktoum Stadium (in Dubai ) 1
April 8, 2019
al-Wasl	1: 3	Zob Ahan Isfahan	Zabeel Stadium
al-Nasr	4: 1	al-Zawraa SC	King Fahd Stadium
April 23, 2019
al-Zawraa SC	1: 2	al-Nasr	Karbala Stadium (in Kerbela)
Zob Ahan Isfahan	2-0	al-Wasl	Foolad Shahr Stadium
May 7, 2019
al-Zawraa SC	2: 2	Zob Ahan Isfahan	Karbala Stadium (in Kerbela)
al-Nasr	3: 1	al-Wasl	King Fahd Stadium
May 21, 2019
al-Wasl	1: 5	al-Zawraa SC	Zabeel Stadium
May 29, 2019 2
Zob Ahan Isfahan	0-0	al-Nasr	Grand Hamad Stadium (in Doha ) 1

annotation

¹Due to the tense relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia , the game was played on neutral ground.

² The game, which was actually planned for May 21, 2019, has been postponed to May 29, 2019 due to security concerns.

Group B

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	al-Wahda	6th	4th	1	1	014: 900	+5	13
2.	Ittihad FC	6th	3	2	1	013: 900	+4	11
3.	Tashkent locomotive	6th	2	1	3	010:110	−1	07th
4th	al-Rayyan SC	6th	1	0	5	009:170	−8	03

4th March 2019
Tashkent locomotive	2-0	al-Wahda	Lokomotiv Stadium
Ittihad FC	5: 1	al-Rayyan SC	King Abdullah Sports City Stadium
March 11, 2019
al-Wahda	4: 1	Ittihad FC	al-Nahyan stadium
al-Rayyan SC	2: 1	Tashkent locomotive	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium (in Doha )
April 9, 2019
al-Rayyan SC	1: 2	al-Wahda	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium (in Doha)
Ittihad FC	3: 2	Tashkent locomotive	King Abdullah Sports City Stadium
April 22, 2019
Tashkent locomotive	1: 1	Ittihad FC	Lokomotiv Stadium
al-Wahda	4: 3	al-Rayyan SC	al-Nahyan stadium
May 7, 2019
al-Wahda	3: 1	Tashkent locomotive	al-Nahyan stadium
al-Rayyan SC	0: 2	Ittihad FC	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium (in Doha)
May 21, 2019
Tashkent locomotive	3: 2	al-Rayyan SC	Lokomotiv Stadium
Ittihad FC	1: 1	al-Wahda	King Abdullah Sports City Stadium

Group C

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	al-Hilal	6th	4th	1	1	010: 500	+5	13
2.	al-Duhail SC	6th	2	3	1	011: 800	+3	09
3.	Esteghlal Tehran	6th	2	2	2	006: 800	−2	08th
4th	al Ain Club	6th	0	2	4th	004:100	−6	02

5th March 2019
al-Duhail SC	3-0	Esteghlal Tehran	Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium
al Ain Club	0: 1	al-Hilal	Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium
March 12, 2019
Esteghlal Tehran	1: 1	al Ain Club	Azadi Stadium
al-Hilal	3: 1	al-Duhail SC	King Saud University Stadium
April 8, 2019
al-Duhail SC	2: 2	al Ain Club	Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium
Esteghlal Tehran	2: 1	al-Hilal	Al-Ahli Stadium (in Doha ) 1
April 23, 2019
al-Hilal	1-0	Esteghlal Tehran	Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium (in Abu Dhabi ) 1
al Ain Club	0: 2	al-Duhail SC	Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium
May 6, 2019
Esteghlal Tehran	1: 1	al-Duhail SC	Azadi Stadium
al-Hilal	2-0	al Ain Club	King Saud University Stadium
20th May 2019
al-Duhail SC	2: 2	al-Hilal	Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium
al Ain Club	1: 2	Esteghlal Tehran	Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium

annotation

¹Due to the tense relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia , the game was played on neutral ground.

Group D

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	al-Sadd SC	6th	3	1	2	007: 800	−1	10
2.	al-Ahli	6th	3	0	3	007: 700	± 0	09
3.	Paxtakor Tashkent	6th	2	2	2	007: 700	± 0	08th
4th	Persepolis Tehran	6th	2	1	3	006: 500	+1	07th

5th March 2019
Persepolis Tehran	1: 1	Paxtakor Tashkent	Azadi Stadium
al-Ahli	2-0	al-Sadd SC	King Abdullah Sports City Stadium
March 12, 2019
Paxtakor Tashkent	1-0	al-Ahli	Paxtakor Central Stadium
al-Sadd SC	1-0	Persepolis Tehran	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium
April 9, 2019
Paxtakor Tashkent	2: 2	al-Sadd SC	Paxtakor Central Stadium
Persepolis Tehran	2-0	al-Ahli	Zabeel Stadium (in Dubai ) 1
April 22, 2019
al-Ahli	2: 1	Persepolis Tehran	al-Maktoum Stadium (in Dubai) 1
al-Sadd SC	2: 1	Paxtakor Tashkent	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium
May 6, 2019
Paxtakor Tashkent	1-0	Persepolis Tehran	Paxtakor Central Stadium
al-Sadd SC	2: 1	al-Ahli	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium
20th May 2019
Persepolis Tehran	2-0	al-Sadd SC	Azadi Stadium
al-Ahli	2: 1	Paxtakor Tashkent	King Abdullah Sports City Stadium

annotation

¹Due to the tense relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia , the game was played on neutral ground.

Group E

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Shandong Luneng Taishan	5	3	2	0	010: 800	+2	11
2.	Kashima Antlers	6th	3	1	2	009: 800	+1	10
3.	Gyeongnam FC	6th	2	2	2	009: 800	+1	08th
4th	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	6th	1	1	4th	004: 800	−4	04th

5th March 2019
Kashima Antlers	2: 1	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	Kashima Soccer Stadium
Gyeongnam FC	2: 2	Shandong Luneng Taishan	Changwon Football Center
March 12, 2019
Shandong Luneng Taishan	2: 2	Kashima Antlers	Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium
Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	1: 1	Gyeongnam FC	Larkin Stadium
April 9, 2019
Gyeongnam FC	2: 3	Kashima Antlers	Changwon Football Center
Shandong Luneng Taishan	2: 1	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium
April 24, 2019
Kashima Antlers	0: 1	Gyeongnam FC	Kashima Soccer Stadium
Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	0: 1	Shandong Luneng Taishan	Larkin Stadium
May 8, 2019
Shandong Luneng Taishan	2: 1	Gyeongnam FC	Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium
Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	1-0	Kashima Antlers	Larkin Stadium
May 22, 2019
Gyeongnam FC	2-0	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	Changwon Football Center
Kashima Antlers	2: 1	Shandong Luneng Taishan	Kashima Soccer Stadium

Group F.

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	6th	5	0	1	009: 400	+5	15th
2.	Guangzhou Evergrande	5	3	1	1	009: 500	+4	10
3.	Daegu FC	6th	3	0	3	010: 600	+4	09
4th	Melbourne Victory	6th	0	1	5	004:170	−13	01

5th March 2019
Melbourne Victory	1: 3	Daegu FC	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
Guangzhou Evergrande	2-0	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Tianhe Stadium
March 12, 2019
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	2: 1	Melbourne Victory	Hiroshima Big Arch
Daegu FC	3: 1	Guangzhou Evergrande	Daegu Forest Arena
April 10, 2019
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	2-0	Daegu FC	Hiroshima Big Arch
Guangzhou Evergrande	4-0	Melbourne Victory	Tianhe Stadium
April 23, 2019
Melbourne Victory	1: 1	Guangzhou Evergrande	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
Daegu FC	0: 1	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Daegu Forest Arena
May 8, 2019
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	1-0	Guangzhou Evergrande	Hiroshima Big Arch
Daegu FC	4-0	Melbourne Victory	Daegu Forest Arena
May 22, 2019
Guangzhou Evergrande	1-0	Daegu FC	Tianhe Stadium
Melbourne Victory	1: 3	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

Group G

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	6th	4th	1	1	007: 300	+4	13
2.	Urawa Red Diamonds	6th	3	1	2	009: 400	+5	10
3.	Beijing Guoan	6th	2	1	3	006: 800	−2	07th
4th	Buriram United	6th	1	1	4th	003:100	−7	04th

March 6, 2019
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	3: 1	Beijing Guoan	Jeonju World Cup Stadium
Urawa Red Diamonds	3-0	Buriram United	Saitama Stadium 2002
March 13, 2019
Buriram United	1-0	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Buriram Stadium
Beijing Guoan	0-0	Urawa Red Diamonds	Workers stadium
April 9, 2019
Urawa Red Diamonds	0: 1	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Saitama Stadium 2002
Buriram United	1: 3	Beijing Guoan	Buriram Stadium
April 24, 2019
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	2: 1	Urawa Red Diamonds	Jeonju World Cup Stadium
Beijing Guoan	2-0	Buriram United	Workers stadium
May 7, 2019
Buriram United	1: 2	Urawa Red Diamonds	Buriram Stadium
Beijing Guoan	0: 1	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Workers stadium
May 21, 2019
Urawa Red Diamonds	3-0	Beijing Guoan	Saitama Stadium 2002
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	0-0	Buriram United	Jeonju World Cup Stadium

Group H.

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Ulsan Hyundai	6th	3	2	1	005: 700	−2	11
2.	Shanghai SIPG	6th	2	3	1	013: 800	+5	09
3.	Kawasaki Frontale	6th	2	2	2	009: 600	+3	08th
4th	Sydney FC	6th	0	3	3	005:110	−6	03

March 6, 2019
Sydney FC	0-0	Ulsan Hyundai	Jubilee oval
Shanghai SIPG	1-0	Kawasaki Frontale	Shanghai stadium
March 13, 2019
Kawasaki Frontale	1-0	Sydney FC	Todoroki Athletics Stadium
Ulsan Hyundai	1-0	Shanghai SIPG	Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium
April 10, 2019
Sydney FC	3: 3	Shanghai SIPG	Jubilee oval
Ulsan Hyundai	1-0	Kawasaki Frontale	Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium
April 23, 2019
Kawasaki Frontale	2: 2	Ulsan Hyundai	Todoroki Athletics Stadium
Shanghai SIPG	2: 2	Sydney FC	Shanghai stadium
May 7, 2019
Ulsan Hyundai	1-0	Sydney FC	Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium
Kawasaki Frontale	2: 2	Shanghai SIPG	Todoroki Athletics Stadium
May 21, 2019
Sydney FC	0: 4	Kawasaki Frontale	Jubilee oval
Shanghai SIPG	5-0	Ulsan Hyundai	Shanghai stadium

Final round

The division into the western and eastern regions, which had already existed since the qualifying rounds, was continued in the final round up to the final.

Round of 16

The pairings for the round of 16 were blindly determined when the group stage was drawn in November 2018. So it could happen that teams from the same national association had to play against each other. A group runner-up each met a group winner from another group, with the group winners initially playing the first leg away. The first legs took place on June 18 and 19 and August 5 and 6, 2019, and the second legs on June 25 and 26 and August 12 and 13, 2019.

	total		First leg	Return leg	region
al-Nasr	4: 3	al-Wahda	1: 1	3: 2	west
Ittihad FC	6: 4	Zob Ahan Isfahan	12: 1 1	14: 3 1	west
al-Duhail SC	2: 4	al-Sadd SC	1: 1	1: 3	west
al-Ahli	3: 4	al-Hilal	2: 4	1-0	west
Kashima Antlers	( a ) 3: 3(a)	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	1-0	2: 3	east
Guangzhou Evergrande	4: 4 (6: 5 i.E. )	Shandong Luneng Taishan	2: 1	2: 3 a.d.	east
Urawa Red Diamonds	4: 2	Ulsan Hyundai	1: 2	3-0	east
Shanghai SIPG	2: 2 (5: 3 on account )	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	1: 1	1: 1 a.d.	east

annotation

¹Due to the tense relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia , the first leg took place at the Zabeel Stadium in Dubai and the second leg at the Grand Hamad Stadium in Doha .

Quarter finals

The fixtures for the quarter-finals were drawn on July 2, 2019. There were no seeded teams and teams from the same national association could be drawn against each other. The first legs took place from August 26 to 28, 2019, and the second legs from September 16 to 18, 2019.

	total		First leg	Return leg	region
al-Nasr	3: 4	al-Sadd SC	2: 1	1: 3	west
Ittihad FC	1: 3	al-Hilal	0-0	1: 3	west
Shanghai SIPG	(a)3: 3 ( a )	Urawa Red Diamonds	2: 2	1: 1	east
Guangzhou Evergrande	( a ) 1: 1(a)	Kashima Antlers	0-0	1: 1	east

Semifinals

In the semifinals, the two teams from the western region and the two from the eastern region played against each other. The order of the games was determined before the quarter-finals were drawn. The first legs took place on October 1 and 2, 2019, the second legs on October 22 and 23, 2019.

	total		First leg	Return leg	region
al-Sadd SC	5: 6	al-Hilal	1: 4	4: 2	west
Urawa Red Diamonds	3-0	Guangzhou Evergrande	2-0	1-0	east

final

First leg

al-Hilal		Urawa Red Diamonds
	November 9, 2019 at 7:30 PM (5:30 PM CET ) in Riyadh ( King Saud University Stadium ) Result: 1: 0 (0: 0) Spectators: 22,549 Referee: Ali Sabah ( Iraq )   Match report
	Abdullah al-Mayouf - Mohammed al-Breik , Jang Hyun-soo , Ali al-Bulaihi , Yasser al-Shahrani - André Carrillo , Salman al-Faraj , Abdullah Otayf (89th Mohamed Kanno ), Salem al-Dawsari - Sebastian Giovinco ( 87th Nawaf al-Abed ), Bafétimbi Gomi's coach: Răzvan Lucescu ( Romania )	Haruki Fukushima - Takuya Iwanami , Daisuke Suzuki , Tomoaki Makino - Daiki Hashioka , Ewerton , Takuya Aoki , Takahiro Sekine (85th Tomoya Ugajin ) - Kazuki Nagasawa (75th Ken'yū Sugimoto ), Fabrício - Shinzo Koroki Coach: Tsuyoshi Otsuki
	1-0 Carrillo (60th)
	al-Bulaihi (36th)
	Player of the Match: André Carrillo (al-Hilal)

Return leg

Urawa Red Diamonds		al-Hilal
	November 24, 2019 at 19:00 (11:00 CET ) in Saitama ( Saitama Stadium 2002 ) Result: 0: 2 (0: 0) Spectators: 58,109 Referee: Valentin Kovalenko ( Uzbekistan )   Match report
	Shusaku Nishikawa - Takuya Iwanami , Daisuke Suzuki , Tomoaki Makino - Daiki Hashioka , Ewerton , Takuya Aoki (88. Yuki Abe ), Takahiro Sekine - Kazuki Nagasawa (63. Yōsuke Kashiwagi ), Fabrício (71. Ken'yū Sugimoto ) - Shinzo Koroki Coach: Tsuyoshi Otsuki	Abdullah al-Mayouf - Mohammed al-Breik (80th Abdullah al-Hafith ), Jang Hyun-soo , Ali al-Bulaihi , Yasser al-Shahrani - André Carrillo , Salman al-Faraj , Abdullah Otayf (90th + 4 ' Mohammad asch-Schalhub ), Salem al-Dawsari - Sebastian Giovinco (88th Mohamed Kanno ), Bafétimbi Gomi's coach: Răzvan Lucescu ( Romania )
		0: 1 al-Dawsari (74th) 0: 2 Gomis (90th + 3 ')
	Sekine (43.), Aoki (53.), Iwanami (57.), Makino (76.),

List of goalscorers

See also : List of AFC Champions League Top Scorers

Below are the top scorers of the Champions League season (without qualification). If the number of hits is the same, the players are sorted alphabetically.

rank	Nat	player	society	Gates
01		Bafétimbi Gomis	al-Hilal	11
02		Leonardo	al-Wahda	09
03		Shinzō Kōroki	Urawa Red Diamonds	08th
04th		Omar al-Somah	al-Ahli	07th
05		Alaa Abbas	al-Zawraa SC	06th
		Giuliano	al-Nasr	06th
		Hulk	Shanghai SIPG	06th
		Graziano Pellè	Shandong Luneng Taishan	06th
09		Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov	Tashkent locomotive	05
		Akram Afif	al-Sadd SC	05
		Romarinho	Ittihad FC	05
		Talisca	Guangzhou Evergrande	05
Status: end of the season

Web links

• Official website of the AFC Champions League

Individual evidence

1. ^ Al Hilal's Gomis wins MVP, Top Scorer awards . In: The-AFC.com . November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
2. ↑ Continent's elite set for 2019 campaign . In: The-AFC.com . November 22, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
3. ↑ Zobahan vs. Al Nassr tie postponed . In: The-AFC.com . Retrieved May 21, 2019.
4. ↑ Quarter-final ties confirmed . In: The-AFC.com . July 2, 2019. Retrieved July 3, 2019.